GDC 2008: Final Fantasy Updates

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Technology presentation reveals new details and a trailer.

By Ryan Clements

Taku Murata, General Manager of Square Enix's Research & Development division, just gave a presentation at this year's GDC titled "The Technology of Final Fantasy." Most of the information given at the conference was more on the technical side of things, dealing with the company's various engines and experiences with actual development. However, towards the end of the show, we were treated to a few bits of information that should be interesting to Final Fantasy fans.

First, Square Enix's "White Engine," the companywide technology platform, has been renamed Crystal Tools (and is designed for use with the PS3, 360 and PC). Also, Murata mentioned that a scaled down version of Crystal Tools will be implemented for the Wii. Intriguing indeed. This technology is being implemented in the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Soon after these details were given, an old trailer was promptly shown. It's been a while since we've seen a trailer from the upcoming Final Fantasy titles, but we'll break it down for you again.

The trailer was for Final Fantasy XIII, and began with the now recognizable shots of a cybernetic train snaking through highly science-fiction inspired environments. The following flashed quickly, but it looks like a monster, reminiscent of series favorite Ifrit, runs down a highway environment and attacks Lightning, the game's blonde-haired main character. Using a series of highly stylized acrobatics and martial arts techniques, Lightning dispatches the monster with her sword (that seems to double as a gun).

Another element that definitely intrigued us was a few scenes, both cinematically and in "real-time," that depict Lightning using some sort of time manipulation weapon. Casting her hand out to throw a grenade, a blue field exploded outwards and froze enemy soldiers in place, giving the agile warrior a few precise moments to take everyone down.

More scenes of the twin Shiva-looking creatures were shown, mixing an appearance of magic and technology in a very cool way. Also, there was a large ship swooping down from a clustered sky, releasing platoons of armored troops that jetted down to the ground below. They clearly outnumber Lightning, who eyes the group quietly with a look of satisfied aggression. Before the troops open fire, a blonde man with a bandana rides a motorcycle into the scene, screeches to a halt and looks over his shoulder calmly. End trailer.

After the old video, nothing overly important was noted, though we should mention that despite talk of cross-platform software, the trailer explicitly displays "For PlayStation 3" before cutting to black. This looks to continually insist the game's exclusivity for the Sony platform.

Lastly, Murata noted that Crystal Tools will be used in conjunction with the development of a new MMO that Square Enix is working on. Whether this is an entirely new project or the previously mentioned MMO is uncertain.